''Social Theory and Social Structure'' (''STSS'') was a landmark publication in
sociology
Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...
by
Robert K. Merton. It has been translated into close to 20 languages and is one of the most frequently cited texts in
social science
Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...
s. It was first published in 1949, although revised editions of 1957 and 1968 are often cited. In 1998 the
International Sociological Association
The International Sociological Association (ISA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to scientific purposes in the field of sociology and social sciences. It is an international sociological body, gathering both individuals and national sociol ...
listed this work as the third most important sociological book of the 20th century.
The book introduced many important concepts in sociology, like:
manifest and latent functions and dysfunctions,
obliteration by incorporation
In sociology of science, obliteration by incorporation (OBI) occurs when at some stage in the development of a science, certain ideas become so universally accepted and commonly used that their contributors are no longer cited. Eventually, its ...
,
reference group
In the social sciences, social groups can be categorized based on the various group dynamics that define social organization.Boundless team.Types of Social Groups" ''Social Groups and Organization'' Open_educational_resources.html" ;"title="nowi ...
s,
self-fulfilling prophecy A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that comes true at least in part as a result of a person's belief or expectation that the prediction would come true. In the phenomena, people tend to act the way they have been expected to in order to mak ...
,
middle-range theory and others.
[Merton, 1980]
Notes
References
*
::Also available as:
Extract.* Robert K. Merton
This Week’s Citation Classic: Merton R K. ''Social Theory and Social Structure''. New York: Free Press, 1949 Current Contents
''Current Contents'' is a rapid alerting service database from Clarivate, formerly the Institute for Scientific Information and Thomson Reuters. It is published online and in several different printed subject sections.
History
''Current Contents ...
, (21): 12-12 1980
Further reading
* Robert K. Merton, ''Social Theory and Social Structure'', Free Press, 1968,
External links
Extracts
1949 non-fiction books
Sociology books
Robert K. Merton
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